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Dr. Gilmore (CS)
Dr. Gilmore is a major supporting protagonist of Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier. Originally a member of Black Ghost, Gilmore defected upon the production of the 00 Cyborgs and helped them escape, later becoming their mentor and a main source of moral support. Appearance Dr. Gilmore is an old man with short light gray hair, black eyes, thick eyebrows, and a full beard with no mustache. As in previous depictions of Cyborg 009, he is drawn with a rather large nose. During his tenure with Black Ghost, he wore a white laboratory coat with black pants and shoes, with dark sunglasses. After his betrayal, he started wearing civilian clothes, usually a brown suit depending on the episode. Personality Dr. Gilmore is a brilliantly intelligent and compassionate man. As a surrogate father figure and mentor of the 00 Cyborgs, he remains a constant presence in each and every one of their lives, physically and mentally. When the cyborgs need help in a key point of a battle or resolving a problem that is causing them inner turmoil, chances are that they'll turn to Gilmore. They also rely on him for medical repair, as he is the only person capable of restoring their cybernetic bodies whenever they are injured. A major reason why Gilmore often aids the cyborgs in their quest to stop Black Ghost is because of the regret he harbored over his involvement in their kidnapping and transformation. Even before when he worked as a scientist for Black Ghost, he suffered from constant doubt over his own loyalties as well as his sense of right and wrong concerning Black Ghost's intentions to promote global warfare. On one occasion, during the conversion of Cyborg 005, the sheer inner turmoil caused Gilmore to suffer from a minor heart attack. After his betrayal, he dedicated himself to the side of good as a way to atone for his actions, using his knowledge to help innocent lives. In the episode The Final Battle, it's implied by Skull that Gilmore is a survivor of the Holocaust, a horrific genocide of the Jews that took place in WWII. After Skull recaptured Gilmore and the 00 Cyborgs, he promised the old man to let him watch as he "burned" the cyborgs in the furnaces for their rebellion. This seemed to have a negative effect on Gilmore, as he was seen trembling with great anger as he freed the cyborgs, ultimately leading to Skull's defeat. History Not much is known about Gilmore's early life before Black Ghost, though The Final Battle implies that he lived through WWII, where he saw many family members and close friends die in the Holocaust when he was young. If Skull is to be believed, then Black Ghost was responsible for many deaths in the Holocaust, including those close to Gilmore. In the episode Black Ghost Lives, viewers get further insight into Dr. Gilmore's history. In Moscow, Russia during 1961, he was a young medical surgeon who wanted to test a mechanical artificial heart he designed on a patient who needed a heart transplant. However, his design failed to work properly and the patient died on the operating table. Later that night, an agent of Black Ghost appeared and offered to help him. At first, the prideful young doctor refuses and stated that the failure was the fault of the surgeons and not him, claiming his design was perfect. The agent shows his own blueprint for an artificial heart, and reveals himself to be Professor Brown. The stunned Issac asks how the Nobel winning scientist is alive, to which the professor says he faked his death so he could continue his work. Professor Brown says that the future the world is heading for is one that "they" do not want, and offers Gilmore to join Black Ghost, to which he accepts. At some point, Black Ghost began its 00 Cyborg project by abducting Jet Link and using him for combat tests, however flaws in the system appear and he is scrapped as a candidate for the 001 designation. Gilmore states he will get another candidate ready. Gilmore narrates in the episode that he joined the organization in an arrogant quest for knowledge, not caring about the morality of what they did. During the development of 001, Gilmore learned the Dr. Gamo Wisky was chosen for the project. Gilmore is concerned about the use of Dr. Wisky's own son as a test subject, but is reassured that it is what the good doctor wishes. Gilmore is then startled by the baby's use of psychic powers but then learns Dr. Wisky did this not to save his son, but to gain funding for his research. He briefly shows a bit of morality conflict as he is outraged that Dr. Wisky would do such a thing without considering his son's safety. Gilmore then assisted Dr. Brown in the development of 003's cybernetics by designing them and after convincing his colleague, led the operation of the test subject. Gilmore admitted regrettably in the narration that at that time he showed no concern for Françoise during the surgery and only cared about his reputation. During a field test of 001, 002 and the newly made 003 and 004, the flaws with their cybernetics become clear once 004 collapsed in pain from using his knee rocket launcher. Professor Brown was forced to put 002, 003 and 004 in cryo-stasis and Gilmore witnessed his frustration and reluctance to continue the project. 40 years pass and Gilmore was now head surgeon of the 00 Cyborg project, as Professor Brown had passed away at some point from old age. During the surgery of 005, Gilmore discovers that the artificial heart is a Japanese model he is unfamiliar with and has unnecessary components. He refuses to use it and wants the model that was originally planned for the design, but is told by one of the surgeons that the Japanese model was cheaper. The surgeon also tells Gilmore that if the patient dies, they could always get a replacement, viewing the life of G-Junior as expendable. During his moral dilemma, Dr. Gilmore sees a vision of his arrogant younger self telling him to stop worrying and just do the operation. But while old Gilmore argues that he wants the operation to be successful and for the patient to live, the younger Gilmore mocks his sudden growth of a conscience. The hallucination ends and Dr. Gilmore has a heart attack in the operating room and collapses. The doctors rush him to an intensive care unit and put him in a hospital bed to recover, then abandon him to continue to work on 005. The remorseful Dr. Gilmore witnessed the development of Cyborgs 006 through 008 in horror as they went through agonizing pain during conversion. During the development of 009, Gilmore then realized what he had to do to redeem himself. With the aid of 001, he freed the first generation cyborgs from stasis and then orchestrated the escape of the others. This lead to the events that happened in the first episode. Notes *Dr. Gilmore is alternatively called "Professor" or "Doctor" Gilmore by the 00 Cyborgs throughout both seasons of the English dub, most likely due to his past profession as well as both being acceptable translations of hakase. *In the continuity of the Cyborg Soldier series, Dr. Gilmore shares his birthdate with Shotaro Ishinomori down to the year (1938), making him 63 in the year 2001 when the series starts (and it is the age Ishinomori would have been had he lived to that year). *However, in early Hobby Link Japan settings, perhaps due to an error or change during production, Shinsuke Onishi described Dr. Gilmore as having joined the Black Ghost project during the 1950s. This was adjusted for the series to the 1960s, though the name of "Dr. Brown" was also mentioned in the settings, showing that the plans for the episode "Black Ghost Lives" had long been decided. *The setting of Dr. Gilmore being a Russian Jew in the 2001 series stems from a deduction made by Junichi Fukuda in the Shotaro Ishinomori Character Guide, as he had sourced from Ishinomori's notes for "God's War", where Ishinomori had identified Gilmore by that ethnicity. Previous incarnations have had his exact ethnicity and country of origin unstated, and IshimoriPro continues to leave him ambiguous in their official materials. Category:Cyborg Soldier Characters Category:Male characters Category:Humans